MARCH 27, 1909.
THE FIRST BRITISH AERO SHOW.
THE First British Aero Show organised by the Society of
Motor Manufacturers and Traders, supported by the
Aero Club, which opened on Friday, March 19th, and
closes to-day, Saturday, the 27th instant, has in no way
belied our prognostications of its interest and importance.
It is a real show from end to end, and, having regard to
the fact that it is the first of its kind in this country
and is being held within but a few months of the daybreak
of the new era, it is a most extraordinarily fine exhibition
of flight.
That most visitors to Olympia hold this view is con-
firmed by the one or two marked exceptions which may
at times be overheard while strolling along the gangways.
They are expressed by the sort of person who is dis-
contented on the slightest provocation, and who, more-
over, seems to have a woeful lack of mental ability where-
with to form a judgment. What, we would ask, do such
as these expect ? And under what conceivable condi-
tions could they have been induced to accord approval
which would be of any worth whatever ? Do they want
more machines, or do they want flyers which are not
there ? Olympia is a large hall and it is well filled ; and,
besides, it would be difficult to believe that the malcon-
tents could appreciate other models if their wish were to
be gratified.
There is, it is true, much cause for disappointment
that the first British show should be without a Wright
flyer, but we cannot conceive that its absence makes the
other machines less interesting, or that those who think
them so on this account would be able to look upon a
Wright with any real appreciation. One or two have
been heard to say that the show was not as good as that
at Paris, and it is true that there are not the same
number of machines on view. But what there are,
are more attractively arranged; and the show itself is
more obviously related to flight than was the first
Paris Aero Salon, in which the effect was spoiled
by the occupation of the Grand Nef by industrial
vehicles. There are at Olympia 11 full-sized flyers, while
at Paris there were 16, including Ader's "Avion," from
the Arts and Metiers Museum, and Santos Dumont's
" La Demoiselle," which was hung out of sight. Besides
the Wright, the only other flyers which were at Paris
and are not at Olympia are the Bleriot, Antoinette,
Vendome, Clement, Kapferer, and Lejeune. Voisin's
machines are well represented, for not only is Mr.
Moore - Brabazon's own "Bird of Passage" on view,
with its Issy mud-stained wheels, but Messrs. Simms
(the Voisin concessionaires in this country) show a
similar model, and the Mass Cars exhibit a Dela-
grange, which is of the same make. There is also
the R.E.P. monoplane, which is shown by Messrs.
Bessler - Waechter, and it is well that the show
is not without a successful model of that pattern,
although it lacks the Bleriot and the Antoinette, which,
of late, have been more particularly successful. Two
other machines from France are the Breguet and one
built by Pischoff for Captain Windham, who has entered
the commercial side of the business. The Breguet,
shown by Mr. Stenbury,. is a biplane of quite a different
type to the machine exhibited in Paris ; the same remark
applies, moreover, to the Pischoff.
Where the present show gives so much cause for
especial satisfaction is in the presence of the British
section, and the high standard of workmanship which
it has set. Short Brothers and Howard Wright show
biplanes built in wood and steel respectively, and each
is unquestionably a first-class example of careful con-
struction. The same can be said of Messrs. Lamplough's
work, although the machine is unfinished; and we trust
that Messrs. Handley Page, who are not now represented
by anything that they have done themselves, will follow
" Flight" Copyright Photo.
AERO SHOW AT OLYMPIA.—Mr. Moore-Brabazon's " Bird of Passage," the actual Voisin flyer withwhich he has been making successful experiments in France. The engine now fitted on this machine
is an 8-cylinder E.N.V.
171 c